In a tragic turn of events during an eviction in Nicholls, Georgia, 35-year-old Steven James Ward Jr., a Caucasian male from Douglas, Georgia, was killed on January 23, 2019. The incident also resulted in the death of 25-year-old Kristian Bell, making it a double homicide. The scene of the crime was a residence on Deep Woods Road where Ward and Bell were located.
The perpetrator, Christopher Lane Jones, 21, was reportedly under the influence of methamphetamines when he became enraged during the eviction process and shot Ward. When Kristian Bell emerged from the house amidst the commotion, she too was shot multiple times by Jones. Following the shootings, Jones enlisted the help of two other men, 29-year-old Dedrick Allen Johnson of Nicholls and 25-year-old Joseph James Osburne Burch of Waycross, to conceal the brutal crime. The bodies of Ward and Bell were initially hidden under the house before being buried in a makeshift grave. To further obscure the location of the bodies, Jones constructed a fire pit over the grave.
The crime remained undiscovered until Kristian Bell's family reported her missing. Their search led them to the house where some of the victims' belongings were found. On February 9, 2019, authorities discovered the bodies buried on the property. The subsequent investigation led to the identification of the victims through fingerprints.
With the assistance of the United States Marshals Service, Christopher Lane Jones was located and apprehended in San Diego County, California. When questioned by authorities, he did not deny his involvement in the murders. Jones was ultimately convicted of two counts of malice murder, two counts of felony murder, two counts of concealing a death, and one count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. He received a sentence of two consecutive life terms in prison without the possibility of parole, with an additional 20 years for concealing the bodies. His accomplices also faced justice; Dedrick Johnson was convicted in December 2019 on two counts of concealing the death of another. Joseph Burch was also arrested and charged with two counts of concealing the death of another person.
